Separable circuit device.



C J KLEIN 1 SEPARABLE CIRCUILDEVICB APPLICATION mm 1111.11. 1912.

1111151114311 May18. 1915.

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' To all whom it may concern:

* ED sTATEs, PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES KLEIN, or MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, AssIeiroa 'ro THE curtnnarmmnnnMrs; 00., or MILWAUKEE,

Be it known that I, CHARLES J. KLEIN, a I

' citizen of the United States, residing at Milwaukee, inthecounty ofMilwaukee and State of, W1sconsin, have invented new and usefulImprovements inseparable Circuit Devices, OfWlllCll the following is afull,

clear, concise, and exact description, reference being hadto theaccompanying drawing, forminga' partof this specification.

My lnventlon relates to improvements in -se arable circuit devices.

t .is particularly applicable to separable plugs and receptacles but isnot limited to this particular class of circuit devices.

It is one of the objects of my invention to provide combined circuitmaking and holding clips which will firmly hold together the parts ofacircuit device but which'will at the same time permit the parts to bereadily separated. Y

' Various other objects and advantages of my'invention will behereinafter set forth.

For the purpose of clearly and fully dis-' closing the nature andadvantages of my invention I shall describe the embodiment thereofillustrated in the accompanying drawing. My invention, however, is notlimited to the specific embodiment thereof chosen for the purpose ofillustration.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a sectional view through aseparable plug and receptacle with .the parts separated.

" Fig. 2 is a perspective View of one set'of circuit making and holdingclips, and Fig. 3 is an elevation ofthe pair of clips shown in Fig. 2.

The device illustrated includes a member 1 adapted to be inserted in alamp socket or the like and a member 2 adapted to be plugged into themember 1.-

The member 1 comprises an insulating body provided withv contactreceiving recesses 3' and 4. Within the recess 4: which is preferablyrectangular in cross section, is a j contact 5 retained in place bymeans of a screw G'passing through the body of the member .1/ andthreading into a nut 7 within the contact 5. The screw 6 may be conven-.iently employed as a retaining means for the usual screw shell 8,surrounding a cylindrical portion 9 of the member 1. The screw 6 y .whenso used also serves to electrically connect the screwshell 8 to thecontact 5.

The recess 3 is adapted to receive a similar Specification of Letterslatentr Patented Mayls, 1915, application filed Janaury 11, 1912. serialNo. 670,512;

--contact 10 having a lateral extension 11 which may be formedintegrally therewith or separate therefrom and secured thereto in anypreferred manner. The contact 10 is re.-

tained in place by means of a screw 12 'pass-' mg longitudinally throughthe center of the member 1 and threading into the extension 11. Thescrew 12 also retains in place the" usual center terminal 14 for themember 1 end; electncally connects the same to the-conac Y 'In additionto the retainin' screw-t the screw shell 8 is provided wit a retainingscrew 15 threaded into a nutlfiset into a recessin the member 1preferably in alinement with the contact 10; .An insulating packing 17is interposed between the contact 10 and the nut 16 to insulate thesamefrom one another. v

The plug member 2 comprises the'ordicontacts 18 and 19 adapted to plugonto'the contacts 10 and 5 respectively of the member 1. The contacts 18and 19 are of similar construction and each is'provided with anextension20 and bindin screw 21 for connecting the same in circult. The contacts18' nary form of insulating body and carries and 19 are held in place inthe usual manner by screws 22.

In practice I prefer to construct the contacts as illustrated in Figs 2and '3. As

illustrated in these figures, the contacts of the member 1 comprise aresilient strip 23 of conducting'material bent to bring its extremities24 and25 into parallelrelation, the .90

as not to interfere and prevent compression of the fingers ashereinafter described.

The contacts of the plug member are Identical in all respects. rigidparallel fingers 29 and 30 spaced Just a slightly greater distance apartthan the fingers 24 and 25 of the-contacts of the member 1. In practiceI prefer to form one of these fingers integrally with the extension 20 Iand rivet the other finger to said extension. The fingers 29 and 30 arepreferably made in the shape illustrated, being provided with Eachcomprises two cooperating contacts contained in the memrounded portionsand having their outer edges curved inwardly as shown at 31. Further,the'tipof one ofthe fingers is provided with a conical projection 32adapted to enter the aperture 26 in its cooperatingcontact finger. Inpractice I prefer to provide the opening and conical'projection onrelatively,

opposite fingers of the two sets of contacts.

With the arrangement described when the member 2 is plugged into themember 1 the rigid contact fingers of the former engage and compress theresilient fingers of their fingers firmly holds the removal plug member2 in place. In addition to the function described-the conically shapedprojections on the rigid fingers perform another function. When the. twosets of contacts are being fitted together-the points of the projectionsnaturally seek the center of the openings' in the cooperating contacts.

these conical projections tend to aline the Hence two sets ofcontacts.It is accordingly unnecessary to restrict .the openings in the member 1to insure proper alinement of the contacts when the plug is inserted. Inpractice, for a purpose which will be shortly de scribed, I prefer tohave the openings inthe member 1 considerably larger than is necessaryto admit the contacts'of the member 2.

Due to the peculiar construction of the contacts and the freedom ofmovement of the contacts of'the member 2 in the openings of theinemberl, the member 2 may be readily detached from the member .1 eitherby a straight pull or by leverage. .The'curva tures 31 in the outeredges of the fingers of theplug member and the lateral play of saidfingers in'the openings of the member 1 permit the plug member to bereadily pried'ofi' by a sidewise movement, whilethe resiliency of thefingers of the member 1 allows the plug member to be pried ofiby amovement at right angles to the movement just men-'- tioned. As a'matterof fact the connection between the two members is so resilientand pliable that the member 2 may be readily pried oil: of the memberlat practically any point/about the axis-of the two members.

What I claim as new and desire to secure" byLetters Patent is 1. Incombination, a multipart circuit de 'vice, one part having a rigidcontact and the other hav ng a resilient contact to cooperate therewith,one of said contacts having a substantially conical projection and theother Y having a recess to receive said projection for alining saidcontacts when brought together and for releasably locking said partsagainst separation.

2. A multipart circuit device, one part having ,a longitudinallydisposed recess therein," a pair of resilient contact fingers mounted insaid recess, one of said fingers having an opening and the other parthaving a pair of longitudinally projecting rigid contact fingers, one ofsaid rigid fingers hav ing a conical pro ection thereon, said rigidcontactfingers fitting over saidresilient contact fingers andcompressing'the same and said conical projection entering said openingin one of said resilient fingers to hold the parts together, said recessbeing larger than said contact fingers whereby separation of the partsis permitted either by an axial pull or by leverage.

3. A multi-part circuit device, one: part having parallel spring fingersadapted to.

yield laterally and the other having rigid parallel fingers adapted toslide. over said spring fingers, cooperating fingers being provided witha yielding lock comprising a projection on one adapted to enter a recessin the other, said projection tending by its engagement with therecessed portion of its cooperating finger to aline all of said fingers.4. A two part circuit device, one part be ing provided with a pair ofparallel yield ing contacts having inturned portions at2'.;- theirextremities offset with respect to each j other and the other part beingprovided'1 with a pair of parallel rigid contacts adapted to be pluggedonto said yielding contacts and compress the same. 7

. In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presenceof two Witnesses.

CHARLES J. KLEIN.

Witnesses:

,JnANn'rrn S. Bnoon, ANN SCHWARTZ.

